Fractional Ownership of a cottage

philan wrote: ↑Hello,
We are a couple with no kids, nearing 50 in age. Primary home mortgage balance is well under control and less than 5 years to pay-off. We also have another investment Condo townhouse.
Now, we are considering to buy a vacation cottage somewhere up in Muskoka.
This is new to us and we are also dreading weekly drive up North on weekends, in addition to the fact that we do not want to get tied up with the cottage as we would like to travel other places too.
We came across a couple of cottage offers in Bracebridge area for Fractional ownership of 5 weeks per year. We are considering to visit and get more details.
One of them is at a cost of $55,000 and another is a luxury cottage selling at over $140,000. If we cannot use all the 5 weeks, we can rent out. Yearly maintenance is ranging from $3000 to $5000.
Is there anyone currently under Fractional ownership of cottages? How has been the experience? Any pitfalls that we have to be careful about?
Would appreciate feedback. Thanks in advance.

BryceS wrote: ↑ Just rent a cottage for 1 to 2 weeks each year at this stage in your life.

philan wrote: ↑ If we cannot use all the 5 weeks, we can rent out.

Manatus wrote: ↑ I would advise you to think about that a bit more, if that's your fallback (in the event that you don't want to go). Renting out isn't something that just happens, you have to deal with the potential that no one rents it, or that bad people rent it, and the time and money you spend even if either of those things happen. I would suggest that you assume that you can't rent it out, and make your decision based on that - it's a bonus if you can, but I personally wouldn't count on it being a simple thing.

If you're going to be paying close to $1,000 per week (as maintenance), in addition to your capital cost, in addition to maybe not using all your weeks but still having to pay - you could travel to many places for something similar, why limit yourself to just "up North" and the same place each time? If other people are using it 9 out of 10 weeks, it's no longer yours, and if it's no longer yours then it's no longer your cottage, so you might as well rent somewhere or just stay in a hotel anywhere in the world.

UrbanPoet wrote: ↑ YEah thats the thing..
You can rent a decent well equipped cottage for $1000 per week... If you want to be up north 5 weeks a year thats $5000 per year.

$55,000 cost / $5000

Thats 11 years of cottaging 5 weeks per year... IS that worth it?

Punch the numbers that way and see if its worth it to you compared to renting.

Also keep in mind the maintenance... You say $3000 on the low end.
You can rent nice cottages for 3 weeks @ that price.

carztoronto wrote: ↑ Friends of mine did this. They have one week during prime summer time and the rest is during weeks that you would never want to go to Muskoka. Add the initial cost and the yearly fees and you are way better renting whatever you want, whenever you want.